


No easy win

by NYWCgirl



Category: White Collar
Genre: AU for Payback, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-06-06 08:20:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6746446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NYWCgirl/pseuds/NYWCgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In "Payback", what if Peter didn't manage to free himself and reunite with the White Collar crew? What would Neal do then?</p>
            </blockquote>





	No easy win

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sheenianni](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sheenianni/gifts).



> This short story was written for sheenianni´s birthday. And hopefully it also fills a prompt from sholio on collar corner.

They are standing in the bull pen when the telephone rings and Jones answers it. “I've got Peter on the line! Peter, I'm gonna put you on speaker and start a trace.”

Everybody springs to attention. “Burke! Burke, it's Hughes. Tell us your location.” “ _I need to talk to Neal.”_ “Where are you?”

_“Reese, put Neal on the phone_ ”. “I'm here, Peter.” “ _Listen carefully. I'm in a locked cell. Lang is three feet away from me, knocked out next to his gun. Keller is en route. You need me to talk you through a jail break.”_ “Yeah.”

“ _The cell is roughly 8x12. It's made of cement and metal bars. There's a locked, hinged door.”_ “Clear a space.” Neal orders. “ _Let's do it! The cell's in the middle of a Schmatta-shop basement. There are cardboard boxes, an old metal chair, a can of soda, which was a gift, two lamps, light bulb, thread, fabric And some really creepy mannequins.”_

Neal visualizes the cell, but he needs more info. Props are handed to him and he places them in the confinement of the tape. “Okay, tell me about the door.” “ _The cell door has an electronic keypad_.”

Peter checked if he can see a name or brand. “ _Fassbinder ES-320_.” “Ah, Fassbinder chips are hardwired to a power source, plus a backup battery.” “ _Can we disable it with anything here?”_

When Neal doesn´t immediately respond, Peter continues. “ _Uh Neal_?”

“I'm thinking, Peter!”

“ _Think faster_.” Peter is getting anxious as he expects Keller to walk in any minute now or Lang to wake up. “All right, look for the hardwire connection to the lock.” “ _Okay, got it_.” Peter traces the wire with his hand. “ _Feels like a thin gauge_. _I'm guessing if I cut it…”_ “You'll activate the lock's redundancy mechanism. No, we need… we need to short the backup before cutting the electricity.” _“There's a conduit that runs alongside the cell_.” “Follow that conduit to the fuse box.” “ _I got it_. _It's right on the back wall. I'm putting you on speaker_.” “Okay, all right, uh Here's where it gets a little tricky, Peter. Pull back the inside panel. You'll see two hot wires and a neutral. Strip the neutral.” “ _Hang on, I got to make a quick wire stripper out of the soda can.”_ “Look at you, improvising without me.” Neal feels proud, he and Peter work well together, this is proof of it “ _Done_.” “Okay, uh. All right, break the light bulb and attach the filament to the battery of your cellphone. The filament conducts the charge. Which creates a surge, shorts the power, and the locking mechanism should release.” _"Should?”_

“It will.” Neal says confident. “ _Has it occurred to you that in order to use my cell phone battery we’re gonna have to disconnect.”_

Neal knows, but didn´t want to worry Peter needlessness. “It’s the final step, Peter.”

The next moment, the line is disconnected and everybody in the bull pen holds their breath. The clock is ticking.

“How long will this take?” Hughes asks Neal.

“He should have been free already. Something must have gone wrong.” Neal let´s his head hang and Hughes runs his hands through his hair.

“God dammit Caffrey!”

 

* *  *

 

Peter´s heart is pounding when he disconnects the line. He quickly breaks the light bulb and at that exact moment, Keller enters the basement, gun in his hand. Peter knows he lost.

“Now, now Peter, you weren´t planning on rigging my little game, were you?”

“What do you want from Neal, Keller?”

“Don´t worry about that, I got what I want from Neal.”

Peter´s heart sinks, if Neal paid the ransom, and Lang hasn´t let him go, there is only one possible outcome. He has been an agent long enough to know that most kidnappings don´t end well, even if the ransom is paid.

“Kneel with your back to me. Hands intertwined behind your head.” Keller orders.

Peter sighs and then complies, it is no use. He thinks about El, wishing that he had one last opportunity to talk to her, to tell her how much he loves her.

“Any last word you want to say to me?” Keller sneers.

“Go to hell.”

“You first”

The sudden pain in his head is excruciation, there is a falling feeling and then everything is nothing.

 

* *  *

 

Neal is just about to leave the FBI building, when his phone rings. Neal looks at the caller ID.

“Peter!”

The whole bull pen focuses back on Neal. Some agents are already cheering.

But Neal´s blood freezes when he hears Keller´s distinct voice. He pushes the record button on his phone.

“ _Hello Caffrey.”_

“Keller! What did you do to Peter?”

“ _Your master is still here, lapdog. But you do understand he needed to be punished for trying to cut our game short_.” Keller sneers.

“What did you do to him?”

“ _Nothing permanent_.”

“Let me talk to him.”

“ _I´m afraid that is not possible. Peter is a bit indisposed at the moment.”_

“If you hurt him…”

“ _Then what? What are you going to do? Pull on your leash? Well, I will never know.”_

The line disconnects and Neal is staring at his phone. Keller still has Peter. He gave Peter´s ransom to Lang, Keller didn´t ask for anything else. He needs to think. He has a bad feeling…

 

* *  *

 

Peter tries to claw his way back to consciousness. So he isn´t dead. He needs to focus, but his head hurts and his ears are ringing. When he wants to lift his hand to feel for a wound, he notices that his hands are bound behind his back with zip ties. Concussion, he thinks. He just hopes he can keep his stomach under control.

Think Peter, Neal explained over and over again how to get out of these things. You need something thin and flat. He does his best to scan his environment but as far as he can see, there are no objects that he can use. Now that he examines his surroundings it is clear that wherever he is kept this time, is meticulously cleaned beforehand. He sighs, lets his head rest back on the hard concrete floor and closes his eyes. He needs to preserve his strength, he will probably need it.

 

* *  *

 

The team works all night, gather info, working contacts, and by the time the sun peeks behind some buildings, the whole team is running on fumes. Blake is send for a coffee and donuts run when Jones receives the call from NYPD that they have Peter with them. NYPD received an anonymous phone call telling them that a hostage situation was taking place in a warehouse. The take down went without a hitch and nobody got hurt. Peter will taken to a local medical center to be checked out, just to make sure and to document his injuries sustained during his captivity.

Jones informs Hughes and Neal asks if he can come along. Hughes studies Neal´s face and then nods. He seems to understand the need for Neal to make sure Peter is OK for himself. He calls the Marshall´s office to let them know Caffrey is with him. His next call is to El, to tell her her husband is OK.

 

* *  *

 

When they arrive at the medical center, after picking up El, Hughes shows his badge and explains that Peter´s wife is here to see him. El is allowed into the ER to be with Peter. The three men wait in the waiting room.

Two hours after they arrived, Peter is released and steps into the hall. He looks tired and worn. The couple walks towards them, Peter keeping his arm protectively around El. Neal is not sure if it is for El´s sake or Peter´s. It doesn´t matter. What matters is that Peter is back safe and sound.

“How are you, Peter?”

“OK, some bruising, nothing major.”

“That is good. Look, I am going to take a cab back to the office. Jones and Caffrey will take you home.” Hughes says. “It´s good to have you back, Peter.”

“Thanks Reese, it´s good to be back.”

During the drive, everybody is silent and lost in their own thoughts. Jones drops them off at home in Brooklyn and drives back to the office. El takes Satchmo for a walk, realizing that Peter needs a minute alone with Neal.

“You did good, Neal.”

“What happened? I was convinced the lock would open.” The worry on Neal´s face is still evident.

“Keller walked in on me just as I hung up the phone. He knocked me unconscious, so it had nothing to do with you. NYPD told me they received an anonymous call telling them where to find me. I guess you have nothing to do with that, do you?”

“No, I don´t.” Neal answers honestly.

“Remind me to thank Mozzie.”

Peter can see that Neal is still on edge. He needs to do something because Neal will do something stupid if he doesn´t.

“You look like you haven´t showered in some time.”

Neal looks a bit embarrassed; “Yeah, well, I haven´t been home in some time.”

“Why don´t you go upstairs, have a shower, you still have some spare clothing in the guest bedroom. When you are done, we order some take out and take it easy, OK.

Neal realizes Peter needs the people he cares about around him, so he agrees. He puts his phone on the dining room table and walks upstairs into the bathroom.

When Neal´s telephone rings, Peter answers it without thinking.

“ _Caffrey, you may have won this round, but the game is not yet over_.”

“Keller, you…”

But Keller already hung up.

 


End file.
